Southwestern hospitalizations in double digits

Southwestern Public Health was reporting 12 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Elgin, St. Thomas and Oxford on Tuesday, May 4.

While new cases were down, the health unit announced that 11 Southwestern residents were hospitalized, including four in Intensive Care Units.

The health unit is tracking 136 ongoing cases of COVID-19 in the region, down from 140 on Monday.

St. Thomas and area dropped to 31 cases from 32, Aylmer and area to 10 from 11 and Dutton Dunwich to three from five.

Central Elgin increased to six from five, while Bayham, Southwold and West Elgin remained steady at one each.

In Oxford, Woodstock and area remained at 33, Tillsonburg and area at 31, Blandford-Blenheim at two and Zorra at one.

Ingersoll and area and Norwich decreased to five each from six each and South-West Oxford to two from three. East Zorra-Tavistock rose to four from two.

Southwestern has so far this year discovered 513 COVID-19 cases involving “variants of concern,” considered more contagious and/or causing more severe symptoms than the original strain.

Of those, 416 have been resolved and 97 are ongoing. Most involve a variant first identified in the United Kingdom.

The infection rate for the Southwestern region stands at 64.3 cases per 100,000 of population, up from 66.2 on Monday.

Across Ontario, 2,791 new cases of COVID-19 were confirmed on Tuesday, down from 3,436 on Monday.